Just curious guys. Is it possible to write a class without initializing? Like maybe with the attr_accessor?

You can of course write a class without initialising it, but it has to be instantiated (initialised) for it to do anything. You haven't been very descriptive in your question so I don't know exactly how to answer it, but a few key points:

You typically write an initialize method (which is run when you instantiate the class with eg SomeClass.new) when you want to something to happen when the class is instantiated.

A common usage of the initialize method is to assign values to instance variables which are then accessed through attr_reader. These are typically called 'attributes' (I think).

attr_reader allows you to do:

variable_assigned_to_an_instance_of_a_class.some_attribute
=> attribute's value

attr_writer allows you to change an attribute's value.

attr_accessor rolls attr_reader and attr_writer into one.

Re your first question - less code is usually more :-)

Yup. First of all, forget about the initialize method for a moment. Erase it from your memory, then read this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5046831/why-use-rubys-attr-accessor-attr-reader-and-attr-writer

Remember what an instance variable is - it's a variable that belongs to an instance of a class i.e. it is accessible throughout that specific instance of that specific class and nowhere else.

Have you read that link? If not, do that now. So in the video he assigns an instance of that class to a variable. Then he uses the method PROVIDED BY attr_writer to create an instance variable inside the instance of the class.

class AwesomeClass
  attr_writer :name
end

an_instance = AwesomeClass.new
an_instance.name = "Andrew"

Then, he uses the method PROVIDED BY attr_reader to print out the @name instance variable. eg:

class AwesomeClass
  attr_writer :name
  attr_reader :name
end

an_instance = AwesomeClass.new
an_instance.name = "Andrew"

an_instance.name
=> "Andrew"

Now, moving on to the initialize method... if you want @name to be created and assigned a value when you instantiate your class, you can do so, for example:

class AwesomeClass

  attr_reader :name

  def initialize
    @name = "Andrew"
  end
end

an_instance = AwesomeClass.new
an_instance.name
=> "Andrew"

If you want to be able to change this value, you can add an attr_writer. Since we already have an attr_reader, it makes sense to remove attr_reader and just have attr_accessor:

class AwesomeClass

  attr_accessor :name

  def initialize
    @name = "Nobrot"
  end
end

an_instance = AwesomeClass.new
an_instance.name
=> "Nobrot"

an_instance.name = "Andrew"
an_instance.name
=> "Andrew"

Any questions, fire away.